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on 3/8/02 6:45 PM, Mike Wright at darwin@hidden.email wrote:
> Rex May - Baloo wrote:
>>
>> on 3/8/02 2:51 PM, Mike Wright at darwin@hidden.email wrote:
>>
>>> Rex May - Baloo wrote:
>>>>
>>>> I call for everybody's opinion. In the correlatives, for the
>>>> nothing, nobody, nowhere series, should the prefix be bu, zoy, kayn, or
>>>> does
>>>> someone have a better idea?
>>>
>>> It's an interesting question. Neither Japanese nor Mandarin have such
>>> words. Both either use indefinites (some...) and negate the verb, or
>>> use a pattern like, "There are not {noun} that {verb}." Sort of like
>>> "Buten pe hu bupyar pam." or "Buten bupyar pam sa pe."
>>
>> I wouldn't be surprised if that usage tended to be more common than the
>> 'zoype' idea, but I want Ceqli to be capable of both. Come to think of it,
>> English is capable of both, tho it would only say 'Buten pe hu bupyar pam'
>> in classes in logic. So Mandarin seems to be more logic-inclined, in these
>> cases at least, than English.
>>>
>>> This seems to be part of the internal logic of these languages,
>>> wherein that which does not exist cannot be the subject of a verb.
>>> (There's something vaguely similar in Mandarin not negating the verb
>>> "xiang3", when it means "to think", unless there is literally no
>>> thinking going on.)
>>
>> So how does it deal with
>> "I don't think it's raining."
>
> "I think it's not raining."
> Wo3 xiang3 xian4zai4 bu4 xia4yu3.
> I think now NEG fall:rain.
> or
> Wo3 kan4 xian4zai4 bu4 xia4yu3.
> I opine (literally "look") ...
Here Ceqli will be more logical, or at least more precise:
Go bu dum ke plui fal. I don't think it's raining
Go dum ke plui bu fal. I think it's not raining.
Two quite different meanings. First sentence I don't think it's raining or
that it's not. No opinion on the matter.
>
> Which reminds me. I hope Ceqli will avoid that bogus "it" subject that
> English requires sometimes.
Definitely.
--
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> Rex F. May (Baloo)
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